Trust
by kiingdomkey
Summary: "I remembered how terrified you were back on the roof in Cartagena. You looked like you'd just seen hell kid, in which case you did." "I think I can handle that old man. I've grown up since then."
1. Chapter 1

"_Just… close your eyes. This won't hurt a bit." He tried to pull the trigger, but his hands were shaking so much, he felt immobile. Useless. That familiar voice and figure that stood before him wasn't the man he didn't know, but it was the man he did know. Sullivan stood, pointing his gun at his innocent little protégé. _

"_No, no, no, no… No, please, don't… please." Nathan muttered, begging to be spared. "No, no, no…" BANG_.

Nathan shot up with a jolt. His heart was beating at a fast pace. He covered his face with his hands. That was his third nightmare this week. If he kept this up, he'd never get any sleep at all. "Oh, God…" He began wiping his eyes dry. 'Wait a second. I was _crying_?' "Crying… I was crying…" He stretched out across his bed and stared at the cracks in the ceiling. His curtains were shielding his adjusted eyes from the blinding rays of the sun, but he could see well in the dim room. It was morning, obviously; 7:00am to be exact. Sometimes he'd get up this early and go back to sleep, but after the dream he just had, even taking a nap felt risky. Most times, Sully would be awake and walking around the apartment, and then he'd wake Nate up for their usual day to day routine of training.

A ringing noise sounded, bringing Nate back out of his own little world. It was the phone. He began to stir in his bed to get up, but it stopped ringing. There was a soft murmur, followed by the shuffling of shoes and then the soft creaking of the door. Nathan quickly got out of bed and peeked out his window. "Where are you trying to get without me, old man?" He climbed out his window and down the fire escape. There was no way of doing this quietly. The old man knew him. He knew him back in Cartagena, he knew him now. You really couldn't trick the guy.

Nathan still held onto his childish mind. His mind was filled with curiosity, filled to the brim, and he always needed to satisfy it. If no one else could provide the answer, he had to look for it himself, or ask the questions himself. Sully clearly didn't volunteer to give answers.

"…And here comes that kid, trailing after me." Sully lit a new cigar as he shook his head. Nate had to learn the hard way and Sully found this tedious to deal with. The kid had trust issues obviously, and he knew that, yet the kid followed him around like a lost puppy. At moments he'd want Sully close, and at times he pushed Sully away. Sullivan felt like a father, but to be a father would be too soft. He wasn't going soft was he? Not tough ol' Victor who could bench more than his weight! He opened the trunk of his car and put his bag in. He closed it roughly, and there stood the kid.

"You're gonna give me a goddamn heart attack, kid. What are you doing out of bed?"

"You going somewhere?"

"Yeah, obviously. Now, will you go back to the house?"

Nate shook his head. "Not 'til you tell me where you're heading."

Sully blew a puff of smoke in the air. Nate was hard headed and naïve in more ways than any other emotional, hormonal teenager his age. "Knowing that you're more inquisitive than I'd like you to be, you can tag along, but, ah, do me a favor and don't run around here in your underpants, kid, go get dressed." Nate chuckled before he ran back to the apartment. Sully shook his head and laughed to himself. The kid running around in his boxers and t-shirt made his morning for sure. A few more minutes went by and Nate came back fully dressed this time. He hopped into the car riding shotgun as usual.

"Sully, what does 'inquisitive' mean?" His seat belt clicked into place as Sully backed out of the lot. There he went with his questions again.

"It means you're curious about too many goddamn things." he looked at Nate and with his free hand ruffled up his hair, "You got your head in those books all day, you might as well do some reading; Need to improve that vocabulary a bit."

Nathan smirked. "I do have a very _colorful_ vocabulary if that counts. So, where are we going anyways?"

Sully didn't look at him anymore. "A client requested me to obtain an artifact for them. Asked if I could bring a partner and I got the green light."

"Then why were you about to drive off without me?" The boy tried to make eye contact with the man, but he knew he wasn't going to look back at him.

"I remembered how terrified you were back on the roof in Cartagena. You looked like you'd just seen hell kid, in which case you did."

"I think I can handle that old man. I've grown up since then." Nathan put on his poker face. Truth was he was pretty terrified to even want to say 'yes' to him. Part of him wanted to stay back at the apartment and just wait for Sully to come home. But that part was the part of him he wanted to leave behind. He didn't wanna be that scared kid from Cartagena anymore. He wanted to be the kid that Sully always took on jobs. He wanted to be the one to make Sully proud.

"You promise you won't cry if you have to shoot someone?"

"I got this."

Victor began driving and Nate felt a tiny pang of nervousness. Was he really ready to take on such a big responsibility? He began to pray to God he was.


	2. Chapter 2

The car finally pulled to a stop and the two filed out of the car, ready to face the client. "Now, Nate, clients are serious people to deal with, all right? You need to give off the essence that the guy can trust you. If he can't trust you, he won't pay you."

"All right, got it."

"No, no, I'm serious Nate. One little slip up and the deal's sealed. This is a very important client. He may act humorous, but just don't turn the tables on him."

So, jobs really were serious business. These guys didn't play around it seemed, these kinds of people play for keeps. Maybe he wanted out. Life or death just for a silly little treasure? Was it really the life he wanted? There was no going back now, anyways. They had already stepped into the Cuban bar.

"Victor Sullivan! Just the man we needed! Have a seat!" The man had a booming, raspy voice. Probably from the amount of cigars he had smoked, seeing how ashy his side of the table was. Sully and Nate both walked forward, Nathan coughing as he sat. Now he appreciated the fact that Sully smoked outside the apartment.

"You don't mind the smoke, do you boy?" The man asked as he tapped his cigar in his ash tray.

"I don't mind, just not used to it."

"Nate, this is Nicholas Ramone, best goddamn treasure hunter in the business." Sully was using flattery of course. Damn, how he much he really hated the man, but he did well covering it up. Truth was, Ramone was one of the first partners Victor ever had until Ramone had ditched him back at that abandoned archaeology site years ago back in Russia. Sully was the best goddamn treasure hunter in the business that was for sure. Now, here was Ramone asking him to recover treasures for him. How cute.

"This your kid, Sullivan?"

"More like my protégé. Talented kid he is." Nate could feel his face beaming. Sully truly acknowledged the amount of skill the kid had. He was talented in more ways than one.

Ramone dragged on a cigar. "Haha, well, I hope he likes a good sense of humor! Aha, what does it take to get a beer here?"

Nate took this as an opportunity to show off his talents to Ramone. If he could see how truthfully skillful he was, they could get the job for sure.

"Why don't you let me order that for you boys?"

Ramone belt out a booming laugh. "Unless you speak Spanish kid, they won't understand a thing yo-"

"Señor," Nate called to a nearby waiter, "Por favor, tráeme una cerveza. Y para los hombres, les dan..." Well, the man loved a good sense of humor, right? "…jugo de manzana."

The waiter gave him a strange look. "Una cerveza para **ti** y por los hombres, jugo de manzana?"

"Si, es todo." Nathan smiled at the group of men who stared at him wide eyed. "Is there a problem, gentlemen?"

Sully chuckled and lit his own cigar. "What did I tell you? Talented."

"So, what else can you do, boy?" Ramone seemed interested in Nathan's talents. '_The kid may not mean so much to ol' Victor as he'd like us to think. If he was dear to him, I don't even think he'd bring 'im here'_

"Well, I can read and speak Latin and Spanish, draw a little, and I'm pretty quick on my feet, I guess." _'Don't act too arrogant.'_

The waiter came back with the orange tinted drinks and served them to the men around the table. The beverages were all served in similar glasses, yet Nathan was able to tell which was his beer. He quietly waited for the other men to take the first sips of their "beer".

Nicholas Ramone took the first drink after dragging on his cigar long enough.

He had a look of disgust as he eyed Nate.

'_Holy Hell, kid…"_

"Apple juice?" He set the glass back down and smiled at the boy and began laughing. "I like you kid! You remind me of me when I was younger, pulling tricks and whatnot, such a classic!"

Sullivan let out an exasperated sigh. Goddamn did the kid almost screw himself over.

Nathan laughed and silently whispered to Sullivan. "I told you I got this." He reached for his beer, only to have Sully get it first.

"So do I. Don't think I don't understand your Spanish, kid." He chuckled and gave Nate the tall glass filled with apple juice and the kid sipped at it. When would he ever get his beer?

"…And that's where you'll find the artifact."

"Worth a fortune you say? And how much would the job be, all in all?" Sullivan was clearly at the edge of his seat, ready to hear the amount of money he'd get for such a simple job.

"2,000,000."

"2 goddamn million?" Nate almost spit out his drink as Victor repeated what the man said.

"Two million, you heard me. I just need that artifact in about 2 weeks time. It's a simple job, and I know you can pull through for me Victor. Now, my associate Michael Emmetts will be meeting with you tomorrow." Ramone eyed Nathan and moved in closer to Sullivan. "You be careful with that boy… A rival of mine is searching that same artifact. His men don't play nice. I hope you've taught him well, Victor."

"Thanks for the advice, Ramone, very insightful. Trust me; he knows everything I've taught him."

"Did you teach him how to properly aim and shoot?"

Bad subject with the kid. Sully knew Nate was a bit iffy with the gun business, but this was his kid. He didn't want him to immediately die if they got separated. Ramone was making a good point, which he rarely did.

"Uh, more or less." Sully stated weakly.

"You ready to go, Sully?" Nate. Underneath his happy-go-lucky attitude was an innocent little 15 year old kid. Oh God, just one look at the kid and the thought of making him shoot someone was unbearable. He didn't wanna put him through this shit, damn it.

"Yeah… of course."

**Author's Note:** Ahaa, sorry for not going into details about the artifact they'll be searching for! I don't have History classes until after Christmas break, so I have nothing up my sleeve for now, but I shall research everything! C: Thank you guys so much for the reviews, I promise to improve my writing (I'm more of an artist, which is why I suck ^^;) and, of course, I'll try not to abandon the story!


	3. Chapter 3

As soon as they got home, the kid bolted to the apartment.

"Sheesh," Sully called to him, "Do you really hate cigars that much?" He walked up the stairs and through the front door, locking it as he entered. The kid wasn't running around trying to find a clean shirt, or try and bathe himself quickly before the stench of cigars settled. "What are you looking for anyways?"

"That thing Ramone was talking about. He said something about that artifact, that…thing…what's it called?"

"It didn't have a name, Nate. You'd know if you were paying attention instead of doodling in your journal."

Nathan looked up at him. Nate's doodles were more than just mere doodles. He took his journal, flipped to the page he was doodling on earlier, and showed it to Sully. "This is what the artifact looked like, right?"

"Yeah, didn't you see it?"

"Through all the smoke, beer, and prostitutes, not really. Back on topic, I've seen this artifact in one of my books before; I just don't know where it is now." Nathan walked back to the cluttered space which he called his bedroom. Books were basically falling off his bookshelf, clothes were thrown onto the bookshelf and onto his desk and floor, yet, he liked it this way. Organized chaos is what he called it. Holy-Goddamn-Hell-Kid is what Sully referred to it as. He flipped through each of his books twice. Which book was it in? He had tons of books Sully had gotten for him. Sully knew what interested the kid, and any time he'd find a nice history book, he'd get it for Nate, and Nate would sit and read and read and read.

"Is this it, kid?" Sully stood in the doorway, holding the book wide open for the kid to see the drawn artifact. He sprung up and took it from Sully. "Yes! See here, it does have a name. It's an ancient Roman Perfume Glass."

"What the hell does Ramone want with some perfume glass?"

"Well, you see, back in the Eastern Roman Empire, now known as Syria, glass was such a luxury to have. The perfume glass Ramone showed to us isn't the first of its kind, obviously, but it has to have some value if he wants it so bad."

Sully tapped his chin. If the kid seemed to know enough about this and not see any importance of some sort in this perfume glass, then it obviously wasn't anything worth adventuring for. "Why would Nicholas pay me 2 million for some stupid perfume glass? Don't they sell these things for about $200-$500 at auctions or something?"

"In fact, they do. They sell for a price, but they aren't uncommon enough to sell for 2 million." Nathan set the book down and began putting everything back to where it was. "I knew there was something wrong with Ramone. He could be cheating us out of our lives." Nate muttered in a huff of exasperation.

"Well, either way, this job is going to pay for something, so we might as well still head to that auction site and claim our prize, right?"

"It'll be just a 'sneak-in, sneak-out' job, right? We're not going to have to kill anyone?" Poor kid. Of course, he didn't mind adventuring with Sully now, but their adventures were just for little things, it was now time to advance to a job. A job involved shooting people, not being able to trust anyone, and that was tough to ask such a naïve boy to do, especially if his name was Nathan Drake.

Sully pulled out the chair from the desk and sat down, watching the kid put his books away. "Look, kid, I'd hate to ask you for something I know you don't wanna do, but if I need you to shoot someone, you have to do it. This isn't one of those silly cartoons were the bad guy won't hurt the kid. They will kill you and you can't give them that chance. They won't think twice before shooting a 15 year old boy, and they won't think twice before shooting a 40 year old man. Anyone who gets in their way, won't make it out, but we can, Nate; we're a team. If you and I get separated, I want you to keep that gun in your bag. I've taught you the basics, so I have faith in you kid." Sully got up from his chair, Nathan giving him a blank stare. "I'd like to be able to keep that faith." The older man walked out the doorway, not turning back.

"Hey, Sully?" Nate called from his bedroom.

"Yeah?"

"You can count on me." His face peaked from the doorway, his face beaming as he said so.

Sully smiled back. "I know I can, kid." The kid was a hard one to get to trust you; at times he didn't even trust Sully. When he brought the kid back to the States, Nate was still iffy about him, yet he asked all these questions. Guess all anyone needed to do was let him have answers instead of firing back questions. It took time to get Nate to even trust Sully to hold Francis' ring for a second, but now Nate was beginning to trust Sully with his doubts, a stronger trust. People obviously had hurt him all his life and Victor seemed to be the only good thing so far. Either way, they both needed someone to depend on to be there; each other.

**Author's Notes:** So, I finally chose something I wouldn't have to write about as much, for fear about getting my info wrong. Sorry if I did get anything wrong though. :C Thank you to those who are leaving reviews, I appreciate it! Also, if you'd like to see anything specifically, you can leave me a PM, a review, or contact me through my deviantart account (which I'm on often.) -Ciitron


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